On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Indianapolis Colts. We welcome Chris Shepherd of Stampede Blue— our sister SB Nation site covering the Broncos— for Five Questions with the Enemy.
1. How surprised are Colts fans by the team’s success this season?
Not a single
honest Colts fan will tell you that they saw this coming. But what I can honestly say is that I’ve long believed that general manager Chris Ballard has consistently built rosters that were ready to win with adequate quarterback play. The Colts finally have that — and this is the most complete offensive roster Ballard has ever assembled.
2. How confident are you in Daniel Jones as the starting quarterback? If necessary, can Jones put a game on his shoulders?
Jones is at his best as a distributor. He’s not someone who can take over a game. That said, this offense is so complete he just needs to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers and let them do their jobs. If a defense takes away running back Jonathan Taylor, that’s fine. Then it has to decide whom to cover — and the Colts have a lot of really good receiving options. It’s less about Jones taking the game over and more about defenses being unable to contain every capable playmaker Indianapolis has.
3. Do the Colts see Jones as their long-term quarterback? Or do you expect them to search for another option? And has the organization essentially moved on from Anthony Richardson?
Everything I’m seeing and hearing is that both the Colts and Jones want to make an extension happen. For a team that has been looking for a quarterback for as long as Indianapolis has, it’s hard to fault them for wanting to roll with Jones for the future.
As far as Richardson is concerned, I believed Ballard when he said they still feel he can be special. I believe the Colts would love to have Richardson back next year behind Jones — but I don’t think Richardson’s representation will allow that to happen. That part is speculation, but the Colts do like Richardson — and believe he can play good football.
4. With the addition of Sauce Gardner, do you feel the Colts now have a defensive unit capable of slowing down the AFC’s top offenses?
I think it definitely helps, but it’s too early to tell. This will be his second game with the team — and his first lined up across from Charvarius “Mooney’ Ward (who was playing great before landing on IR). So it’s all ifs and maybes right now.
That said, it’s tough not to see the vision. Ward and Gardner playing a lot of press man on the outside, disrupting routes and giving Lou Anarumo’s pass rushers and blitzes an extra tick to get home? On paper, it sounds good. So we’ll see how it plays out over the next couple of months.
5. Which AFC team do you believe is the biggest threat to the Colts’ chances of making a Super Bowl run?
The team that provides the biggest threat to the Colts is the Colts. At this point, the team has been good again for all of three months. I don’t believe what we’ve seen is a fluke. Outside of the game against the Denver Broncos, the way Indianapolis is winning games isn’t lucky; it’s just lining up and beating teams into submission.
Still, the schedule is much more difficult over the back half of the season; we just don’t know how this team will hold up down the stretch. What happens if the Colts walk into Arrowhead on Sunday and lose 41-3? Do they go in the tank and lose out? Do they use it as fuel and finish 14-3? We just don’t know. There’s no dominant AFC team this year. The Buffalo Bills just lost to the Houston Texans — and the Baltimore Ravens are bad. The New England Patriots look good — but while everyone happily points out the Colts’ weak schedule, they ignore the Patriots’ easy path.
I don’t think the 2025 Colts are an indestructible wagon. But I do think that as Indianapolis heads into the most meaningful football it has played in a decade, the unknowns surrounding the team are more concerning than the fear of meeting Josh Allen in the playoffs.
